The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-11-25
A TERRIBLE DRUG.
The Moral Perversion Produced by tn
Ha5itual Use of Morphine.


Ha5itual Use of Morphine.
Persons who have become mOrphia
habitues remain free from trouble for
variable periods of time. Some begin
to suffer seriously in a few months,
others only after years. This difference
depends rather upon individual pecu-
liarities than upon the quantity Of the
drug which is taken. But sooner or
later all degenerate, both bodily and
mentally. They become pale. sallow
and emaciated; their appetite is great
ly diminished. and the digestive
processes are disordered; sleeplessness
sets in in spite of their morphia. and
what rest they do get is disturbed by
horrible dreams. They become sterile.
and lose their energy and interest in
life, while all their thoughts are con-
centrated on their morphia. If they
have been accustomed to inject the
drug simultaneously. those parts of
the body which are within reach of
the syringe are one mass of sores, so
that they are sometimes at loss to
find sound spot where they can
tolerate an injection. These physical
troubles are bad enough. but the moral
change eclipses them. No one who has
not had experience of these melancholy
cases can form an idea of the moral
pervcrsion which this habit produces.
1.-The constant and increasing use of
the drug-for this is the rule-at length
enfeebles the will and makes the man
a moral paralytic, of all spectaclcs the
most pitiable this side of the grave"
(''Opium Smoking and Opium Eat
ing" by George Shearer, NJ. d., 1887
Untruth is second nature with them.
'.As rule no one thinks of trusting 10
the word of an opium smoker, his char
acter is wholly unreliable" George
Shearer) the same may certainly be
said of the morphia habituc. Levin
stein, one of the greatest German au-
thorities on the subject, says: "Edu-
Gated. intelligent men and women,
otherwise deserving of respect, de-
scend to lying" Even De Quincy,
though he denies moral perversion.
admits that opium renders man inca
pable of doing what he knows to be
right. 1.-The opium eater loses none of
his moral susceptibilities or aspirations;
he wishes and longs as earnestly as
ever to realize what he believes possible
and feels to be cxacted by duty; but
his intellectual apprehension of what is
possible infinitely outruns his pow6r. not
OF execution only, but even of pc yer to
attempt He lies under the weight of
incubus and nightmare; he lies in sight
of all that he would fain perform. just
as man forcibly confined to his bed by
the mortal languor of relaxing disease
who is compelled to witness injury OF
outrage offered to some object of his
tenderest love; he curses the spells
which chain him down from motion;
he would lay down his life if he might
but get up and walk. but he is power
less as an infant, and can not even at
tempt to rise. "-cConfessions of an
English Opium Eater. The morphia
habit may even transform the tenderest
affection into hate. l have known a
happy home rendered almost uninhab-
liable and husband driven to despair
by the terrible change produced in the
character of his wife by the influence OF
this habit-Nineteenth Century.